


Magic Tricks

by applejackcat



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-29
Updated: 2015-07-29
Packaged: 2018-04-11 20:33:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,129
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4451390
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/applejackcat/pseuds/applejackcat
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Belle encounters a budding magician but discovers the true spell is the one cast by his doting father.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Magic Tricks

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ThatRavenclawBitch](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThatRavenclawBitch/gifts).



> I wrote this as a stocking stuffer for the Rumbelle Christmas in July event!

Belle had maybe another minute before her father and Gaston realized she’d bunked them. She’d be cutting it close, popping back to her hotel room to grab a book, but she’d be damned if she spent the entire day wandering Barcelona without anything to read.

The elevator dinged softly, alerting Belle to her arrival on the thirtieth floor of the Hotel de Franc. She readied herself, prepared to make a mad dash to her room for whatever book she found first. But when the doors slid open, a child’s woeful sobs drew her up short.

Belle froze for a moment, then launched herself towards the wails.

“Bae, please stop crying. Papa will figure a way to unlock the handcuffs. I’m so sorry I snapped at you, my sweet boy.”

When she rounded the corner, Belle nearly tripped over a slim, slight man sitting in the hallway and a sobbing little boy with a dark mop of curls. The little boy wore a cape and a top hat and clutched a handsomely crafted wand. The man’s right wrist was handcuffed to one of the ornate steel light fixtures that erupted from the walls, effectively chaining him in place. With his free hand he rubbed the little boy’s back soothingly.

“I’m sorry, Papa,” the little boy hiccuped through his tears.

The man glanced at Belle for a moment, pulled a double take, and went back to comforting his son. “It’s alright, Bae. I’m not angry at all. Now let’s allow this young woman past us, and then we’ll work together to free me.”

Now Bae turned to look at Belle, and his tears dried instantly. A bashful smile spread across his face. “I’m a magician,” he informed her.

“And I’m an appreciator of magic,” Belle replied, curtsying to him. Bae giggled, his tears now all but forgotten. “What trick have you been working on now?”

Bae’s smile wavered, and something caught in Belle’s throat. If she still wanted to escape the hotel, she needed to go now. Currently, though, she struggled to think of anything beyond comforting this little boy.

“Imessedup,” mumbled Bae, his eyes downcast.

His father ruffled his hair lovingly with his free hand. “Speak up, Bae. I don’t think she understood you.”

Biting his lip, Bae repeated himself. “I messed up,” he told Belle.

Belle crouched down beside Bae and his father. “How so?” she asked.

“I wanted to show Papa my handcuff trick,” Bae explained. “But I forgot the next step, after the handcuff part. And now…Papa’s  _stuck_!”

The man offered Belle smile as tremulous as his son’s. “Thank you for your interest, dearie, but we’ll be fine. There’s no need to stay. Perhaps you might call the front desk and ask them to send someone up here?”

Belle repressed the shiver that his Scottish brogue inspired in her. “It’s no trouble at all,” she assured him. “What harm ever came from helping a young magician hone his craft?”

This time, Bae’s papa offered her a genuine smirk. “The name Tom Riddle comes to mind.”

“Ah, but He Who Must Not Be Named was a wizard,” Belle retorted, her hands going to her hair. “I think there’s a difference between being born magical and earning magic through hard work and study.”

Bae squirmed away from his father. “Are you a magician too?” he asked Belle.

Belle grinned at him. “Something like that,” she answered with a charming wink. The man let out an odd little gasp, and Belle’s gaze flicked to him, concerned about his comfort. He held up his free hand and shook his head to assure her of his health.

“What’s  _like_  a magician?” Bae wondered.

Belle pulled a bobby pin from her barely-contained curls and presented it for Bae’s inspection. “I’m a reader. Knowledge is my magic. With what I learn from books, I can do almost anything. _Including_  picking a lock.”

She moved closer to Bae’s father and took his handcuffed wrist in her hands. Her fingertips brushed against his pulse, which felt oddly intimate. The man would not look at her as she brought the tip of the pin to the small lock hole and inserted it. After fiddling for a moment, Belle heard a click, and the cuff around the man’s wrist popped open.

“Magic!” squealed Bae happily. He threw himself into his father’s outstretched arms, and the man snuggled him close.

“I think we’ve found another magician,” he told Bae.

Bae wriggled happily. “No, Papa! She’s something even better. She’s a reader!”

Belle bowed graciously before climbing to her feet. The man looked up from his son, and his face broke into a true smile. Belle struggled to keep from stumbling backwards and clinging to the wall for support, because the man’s grin lit his face so brightly she felt dizzy from its radiance.

“Thank you for your help,” he said softly, still beaming at her, still cuddling his son. “It seems an unforgivable oversight that I’ve not asked you for your name or offered mine. I’m Rumford Gold. Please, call me Rum.”

“I’m Belle French,” Belle replied.

Bae turned to her. “Belle means beautiful,” he told her. “That makes sense, because you’re the most beautiful girl I’ve ever seen. Right, Papa?”

Rum blushed, which only made Belle like him more. “I don’t think Belle needs an old man like me to tell her how beautiful she is,” he murmured to his son, and although she stood less than a foot from the pair, Belle felt certain she wasn’t meant to overhear Rum’s comment. To distract herself, she glanced at Rum’s left hand and was surprised (and, she admitted, quite pleased) to see he didn’t wear a wedding ring.

“I’m sorry if I was rude, earlier,” Rum interrupted, finally standing. “It’s been just Bae and me for a while, and I’ve realized lately that I’ve forgotten how to behave around other adults.”

“Papa’s lonely,” Bae added, more sagely than a young child had a right to, and if Belle thought Rum had blushed earlier, it was nothing compared to how his face flamed now.

“That’s quite enough, Bae,” he tutted, taking his son’s free hand in his. He faced Belle again. “Thank you so much for your help, Belle. I’d invite you to join us while we go to the beach, but I’m sure you have places to be, friends to meet…”

Belle heard the distant pinging that signaled the elevator doors opening. The sounds of two men, as brash and noisy as bull elephants, emerged into the hallway. Oh, joy. Her father and Gaston had caught up to her.

“Actually,” Belle said, grinning down at Bae. “I’d love to come with you and learn more about magic. Tell me, Bae, what do you know about making people disappear?”


End file.
